Foreign fighters are reportedly streaming into Syria and Iraq in
large numbers so as to join the Islamic State or other extremist groups,
including not less than 3,400 from Western nations among 20,000 from
around the world, U.S. intelligence officials say in an updated estimate
of a top terrorism concern
. 
: Reports:
Intelligence agencies now believe that as many as 150
Americans have tried and some have succeeded in reaching in the Syrian
war zone, officials told the House Homeland Security Committee in
testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday. Some of those Americans
were arrested en route, some died in the area and a small number are
still fighting with extremists.
The testimony and other data were obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Nick Rasmussen, chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, said
the rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is without precedent, far
exceeding the rate of foreigners who went to wage jihad in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any other point in the past 20
years.
U.S. officials fear that some of the foreign fighters will return
undetected to their homes in Europe or the U.S. to mount terrorist
attacks. At least one of the men responsible for the attack on a
satirical magazine in Paris had spent time with Islamic extremists in
Yemen.
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